Unexpected
by Qweb
Summary: The search for a missing person takes unexpected twists. This one's personal for Five-0. Second season but just the original Four because that's how I'd rather see it.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: I'm going to break my own rules and post this first chapter before I've written the whole story, but I promised Shakespeare's Lemonade a new story for her birthday, since she gave me a chapter of Old Friends for mine. And by the way, Lynn, you've only got a couple of days before a Five-0/NCIS: LA crossover becomes canon. She wanted a story with "Danger, near death and Danny ranting." I hope this satisfies._

**Unexpected**

Slim and lovely, her dark skin contrasting with her yellow sundress, Sherri strolled into the dimly lit bar that was adjacent to, but not part of, a major tourist hotel in Honolulu.

She scanned the room. A morose drunk slouched in one booth, a half empty bottle of scotch in front of him. His face shadowed by the harsh overhead lamp, he fingered his shotglass, seemingly lost in gloomy thought.

Not what she was looking for.

Her gaze passed over two Hawaiian couples, holding hands, gazing into each other's eyes, unaware of anyone else.

Also pass.

Three businessmen chortled over a deal at another booth.

Possible, but …

At the bar, a blond-haired tourist joshed with the bartender in a thick East Coast accent — New York, New Jersey, Sherri could never tell them apart. Alone and lonely, he looked like what the doctor ordered, the woman thought with satisfaction.

She studied him as she sauntered over. The tourist was short and a little pudgy around the middle, though maybe that was the oversized flowered Hawaiian shirt he wore. Sherri thought he'd be an easy sell. In her opinion, short guys were often sexually aggressive, ready to prove their prowess. And, to be fair, some of them had been as good as they'd bragged, Sherri remembered, running the tip of her tongue across her white teeth. This man might be one of those, she thought, admiring the muscular calves showing between his khaki shorts and sandaled feet. Then Sherri gave her head a tiny shake. She wasn't in that job anymore, she reminded herself. Pity.

Her mark looked at his watch and started to turn away from the bar. He caught Sherri's eye and stopped in the middle of a long, involved story about his Uncle Vinnie's only visit to Honolulu. The blond returned her professional smile with a friendly leer.

She slipped onto the barstool next to the blond's. "Care for a little chocolate with that drink?" she purred, flicking a finger at the fruity concoction in front of the tourist.

The man let his gaze trail down the milk chocolate leg on display then back up the slender form to the short, neatly trimmed afro on top. The woman just tilted her head and smiled seductively. The man smiled back. "I love chocolate."

The bartender gave the woman a dirty look because she was going to take a good customer away. "You want something?" he asked her pointedly.

She looked at him, then looked back at the blond and smiled. "Guess I've got all I need, thanks." She trailed a finger along the blond's forearm as she stood up. "Meet you outside," she whispered.

The tourist watched her sashay away with pleasure.

"Better watch it, brah," the bartender warned. "She's a working girl, you know." He rubbed his fingers together, indicating she'd want payment.

"Yeah, we have them in Jersey, too," the man replied. "But, hey, I'm on vacation. Gotta sample the island delicacies."

He dropped a $20 tip on the bar by way of apology, then Detective Danny Williams followed the woman out.

* * *

><p>Blinking in the sunshine, Danny caught a glimpse of a shapely leg and a flicker of yellow dress disappearing around a corner. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation and went after her, then he stopped abruptly as he stepped into the alley.<p>

The woman faced him, holding a small revolver. Two men with hunting knives flanked her and moved to cut off Danny's retreat.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Danny protested, hands up and empty. "What gives, babe?" he complained. He circled to keep the men in sight and they moved with him until they were between Danny and the alley entrance.

"Just hand over your wallet, babe," Sherri said sarcastically. "And that pretty Rolex, too."

"Gee, most hookers will at least give you a little bang for your buck," Danny returned the sarcasm.

"Money. Now!" the woman barked.

"OK, but you've made a mistake," Danny said. "I don't have a wallet. All I have is this." He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a leather case and flipped it open to show his Five-0 badge.

"Cop!" one of the men blurted.

He started to spin but found himself facing two pistols and a shotgun. Putting their backs to the alley entrance proved to be a strategic mistake, giving Danny's backup a chance to arrive unseen.

"Haven't you heard the saying, don't bring a knife to a gunfight?" The morose drunk towered over the pair of attackers in all of Steve McGarrett's 6-foot glory. Flanking him were Kono Kalakaua and Chin Ho Kelly, no longer a courting couple but a pair of kickass cop cousins. Chin gestured with his trusty shotgun.

"Five-0! Drop the weapons!" he ordered.

The outmatched knifemen complied immediately, but Sherri snarled and turned her gun toward the undercover cop at her side. Danny's right elbow came up sharply under her chin while his other hand came around to catch her gun hand, slam it against the brick wall and wrench it behind her back. When she still didn't drop her revolver, the detective slammed her face down on the ground and planted a knee in her back.

"Really? What good would that do? Seriously!" Danny demanded. He took the gun from her nerveless fingers and handed it to Kono in exchange for a pair of handcuffs. "You gonna take me hostage? You gonna shoot me in front of my friends? Think that would get you anything besides a closed casket funeral? Shotguns are sooooo messy."

Danny's gaze met Chin's at the last statement.

"But decisive," Chin offered. "They always have the last word."

"When you're right, you're right," Danny told his friend.

"This is police brutality," the woman snarled, with Danny's weight still pressing her firmly to the muddy alley pavement.

"You think?" Danny asked, as if he was really considering the point. "My mother brought me up to be a gentleman, but my ex-wife always pushed for equality. What do you think?" he appealed to Kono.

"She pulled a gun on you, brah, and she's still alive. I think she should count her blessings. If she'd pulled it on me, she wouldn't be conscious to be complaining about it."

"There, a woman's point of view. No more complaining," Danny ordered, as he got off the woman's back.

She kicked out, trying to catch Danny in the groin, but he twisted away. It wasn't his first trip around the seamy side of the block.

The knifemen who wasn't handcuffed tried to use the distraction to escape. Steve reached out almost casually, caught the man's arm and spun him into the other suspect.

"I wasn't doing anything," the second man protested.

"These guys complain almost as much as you do, Danny," Steve commented, earning a dirty look from his partner.

As Steve cuffed the would-be escapee, Kono dug her fingers into the afro and hauled Sherri to her feet by her hair.

"Struggle any more and you'll be setting a new half-bald fashion trend in your booking photo," Danny warned. "Just saying."

"So, you going to book 'em, Danno?" Steve smirked.

Danny glanced at his watch. "No can do, fearsome leader. You'll have to do it yourself, this time. I've got to pick up Grace at school. I was just about to call a halt to the operation when our suspect walked in."

"You going like that?" Steve gestured at Danny's abnormal clothing choice.

"Aren't you going to change?" Chin asked.

"No time. I'm already late. Keys," he demanded, hand out.

"You're really going like a real Hawaiian?" Steve asked. "No tie and professional attire?"

"One, this was professional attire. It was a disguise." Danny ticked off the points on his fingers. "Two, as of five minutes ago, I am off duty, so I may wear shorts if I choose. And, three, the whole look worked for the women, didn't it?"

His cocky, smug look made Steve laugh. Danny's prosperous tourist getup had lured three prostitutes before finally landing the stickup crew that had held up seven men, putting three in the hospital with knife and gunshot wounds.

"Those were hookers, Danny. They'll pick up anyone."

Danny shook his head. "They had their choice every time, Mr. Tall, Dark and Scary. You were in the same bar every time. Not one of them went to you first. In fact, that little blonde sidled as far from you as she could get and walked clear around the perimeter of the bar to get to me."

Kono studied Steve's down-and-out dirty denim. "Danny's right, boss. Clothes make the man. And they make woman bait. Danny had the right bait today."

"Now, keys," Danny demanded again. "Or Grace will be sitting all alone on the steps of her school."

Steve tossed him the keys to the Camaro.

Danny saluted and jogged off, sandals slapping on the pavement.

Steve chuckled, and got a poke in the ribs from the butt of Chin's shotgun.

"I don't know what you're laughing at. He looks perfectly normal to me," said the detective, who was wearing a brightly patterned Hawaiian shirt and jeans.

"Yeah, but 'normal' isn't 'Danny.'"

* * *

><p>Danny didn't see his daughter when he drove past the front steps of her school, so he pulled in the parking lot. The detective dialed Grace's cell phone to find out where she was. Miley Cyrus began singing in the next row over.<p>

"Grace?" Danny looked around, but all he saw was a man bent over a burden, a squirming burden.

"Grace!"

Gun in hand, Danny ran at the man who held his hand over the mouth of Danny's wide-eyed, struggling daughter. He didn't see the second man, until the kidnapper stepped out from behind an SUV and fired two shots point blank into Danny's chest. He slammed backwards, whacking his head on a car mirror.

Body numb, unable to breathe, Danny collapsed on the asphalt. He heard his daughter scream, and then everything went black.

* * *

><p><em>Unexpected.<em>


	2. Chapter 2

**Unexpected**

**Chapter 2**

"You killed my daddy!"

In the back of a cargo van rocketing away from her school, Grace Williams tore free from her kidnapper and launched herself at the man who shot her father.

Any veneer of her sophisticated mother was burned away by fury. Grace was Danny Williams daughter, fierce and unafraid. Clenched fists battered at the man with the gun. Bony knuckles caught the gunman in the eye and an accidental head-butt flattened his nose, before the man recovered from his surprise and backhanded the girl across the van.

Grace crashed into the wall. Her head rang, her reddened cheek began to swell, but the tears in her eyes were from fury not pain.

"You killed my daddy!" she repeated angrily, as the other man grabbed her shoulders.

"You killed Edwards?" the Hawaiian demanded of his bloody-nosed boss.

"That wasn't Edwards," the white man declared, as he fingered his broken nose.

"Then we got the wrong kid!"

The boss snarled at him. He pulled out a photo of a man walking hand-in-hand with Grace and tossed it in his henchman's lap. "That's Edwards. That's her." He glared at the child. "You're Grace Edwards."

She glared back. "No. I'm Grace Williams! Stan is my stepfather."

"Good enough," the boss growled.

"That was your father in the parking lot?" the Hawaiian asked Grace. "He had a gun. Why did he have a gun?"

Grace delivered a scathing glance. "Because he's a policeman. He's Detective Danny Williams." Her eyes filled with tears, this time for her father. "Uncle Steve is going to kill you."

"Uncle Steve?" the hired man asked, not certain he really wanted an answer.

"Steve McGarrett."

"The head of Five-0?" the henchman stuttered.

"He's my daddy's best friend and he's going to kill you for hurting him."

The boss raised his hand to strike the girl again.

"If you hurt me, Uncle Steve will hang you upside down in the ocean until the sharks eat your faces off, and then he'll kill you."

The chief kidnapper hesitated. The threat was ridiculous, but the girl's voice held an unsettling certainty.

Grace eavesdropped on her father sometimes. It gave her comfort to hear his voice, even in full rant. If it got too scary or angry, she'd sneak away again, but she enjoyed the humorous rants, particularly the ones about Uncle Steve. She had no doubt he would exact revenge for her father and herself.

"Better not, boss," the henchman advised. "I've heard things about this McGarrett."

"You behave," the boss threatened Grace. "Or next time I'll beat you unconscious."

Grace ignored him. She buried her head in her arms on her knees and wept because she would never see or hear her father again.

* * *

><p>"He's not dead. I don't know why. They shot him point blank, but he's not dead." The young man with pale blond hair knew he was babbling, but the teacher had never seen such violence off the movie screen. He swallowed and started over bravely. "I heard Detective Williams call his daughter, as if she was in danger, so I hurried to see what was wrong. Just as I came past this truck, I heard two shots and saw Williams fall. Two men pushed Grace into the back of a van and it drove away. I got … I got part of the license number." He held out his cell phone so Chin could see the number he'd recorded, the number already broadcast by the dispatcher.<p>

"Good job," Chin praised, seeing how shaken the young man was.

Steve hardly heard Chin lead the teacher through his story again, seeking more description of the men and the van. The Five-0 commander crouched beside his motionless partner while the paramedics started to work on him.

It was such a shock. The Five-0 team had sent Sherri off with patrol officers and were still laughing about her creative invective when the radio sounded on another HPD car. Shots fired at Grace's school. Child abducted. And then, "Officer down."

They all jumped into Steve's truck and raced to the school, bouncing into the parking lot seconds after the EMT ambulance. Steve went straight to Danny while Chin joined an officer in questioning the witnesses. Kono hovered between the two.

Paramedic Ab Riley ripped open Danny's Hawaiian shirt.

"That's why he's not dead," Riley commented, as he pulled apart the Velcro flaps of the hidden bulletproof vest.

"He was undercover," Steve said in a dazed voice. "Took down an armed robbery ring. Didn't get a scratch, then he's shot down in the parking lot at his daughter's school?"

Kono made a choking sound. "And we were teasing him about not taking time to change. If he had …" She turned away, fighting for control.

Steve looked at the trickle of blood pooling on the teacher's folded jacket beneath Danny's head. The asphalt parking lot radiated heat and the commander flashed back to a pair of jeeps full of laughing men, a sudden explosion and a friend bleeding to death on a hot, desert road.

"It's like an IED, so unexpected," he said to himself.

Steve looked around wildly, half in the moment and half in the past, torn between his need to help Danny and his need to find Grace. He reminded Chin of a big dog looking frantically for the tennis ball that you only pretended to throw.

Chin put his hand on his boss' shoulder. "Kono and I will process the scene and see if there are any more witnesses. Why don't you stay with Danny? If he wakes up, he should be able to give us something."

Chin's calm words, phrased to preserve Steve's authority, gave the commander something to focus on. He snapped back to the present.

"Thanks, Chin."

"Anytime, boss. You OK, cuz?"

Kono wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and stiffened her spine. "Yes. Come on, we need to find Grace for Danny." Head down, looking for evidence, she began stalking down the row toward the discarded pink backpack lying pitifully on the asphalt.

* * *

><p>While Riley checked Danny's visibly bruised torso, his partner Margrette Chandler put an oxygen mask on Danny's face and checked the head wound.<p>

"Superficial laceration," she reported, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

"Scalp cuts, they bleed like a sonuva-uh-gun. Don't they, Danny?" Steve told his unconscious friend, reviving an old joke.

Riley palpated Danny's abdomen as gently as possible, but the injured man hissed and flinched.

"Easy, Danny." Steve touched his shoulder.

Danny's eyes blinked at his partner.

"Danny, are you with me?"

The detective's response was muffled by the oxygen mask, but Steve recognized his own name and Grace's.

The commander squeezed his partner's arm. "We'll find her. Can you tell me what you saw?"

Danny nodded weakly and plucked at the mask. Steve reached for it as Chandler reached to stop him. Steve looked her back.

"A girl's life is in danger."

Chandler nodded. "Be quick."

Steve leaned close to hear his friend's words, broken by gasps, but clear. "I saw two men. Hawaiian had Grace. Twenty-five, five-ten/eleven, 200 pounds. Black hair, shaggy. Jeans, blue tee. Shooter was older man, 40s, white, brown hair going gray, gray eyes, long nose, six-six, 200. Silver automatic." Steve was impressed. Danny could have only seen the shooter for an instant, but his trained eye had taken a snapshot for later recall.

His breathlessness worried the EMTs. "That's enough," Chandler said, trying to put the mask back in place.

Danny fended her off. "Steve, van running."

Chin heard that and turned to his witness. "Mr. Martin, who drove the van away?"

The teacher realized what they were saying. "I didn't see the driver, but the van started moving before the back door shut all the way. Someone else must have been driving."

Danny nodded and lay back, accepting the oxygen gratefully.

Riley had been working quietly all the time. He took the stethoscope out of his ears. "Vitals look pretty good for someone who was shot, Danny. We're going to take you to the hospital to get checked out."

Danny waved a hand in denial, but Steve overrode him. "Danny, go to the hospital. Do I have to go with you to sit on you, or do I stay and help Chin and Kono find Grace?"

Danny's moan of surrender was heartrending. He realized he was distracting his friends from their most important quest. Even now Kono was watching him worriedly, instead of searching for evidence. He gave her a reassuring smile, which she somehow recognized despite the oxygen mask. She smiled back and returned to her search.

"We'll find her, partner. We'll find her," Steve reassured Danny. "You listen to the doctors."

As the EMTs loaded Danny into the ambulance, Steve heard a jingling sound. When he looked, Danny flipped his car keys to his partner. Steve fielded the low throw, then stood and watched as his friend was taken away to the hospital.

In the ambulance, Danny did the only thing that would aid the investigation and take his mind off his missing daughter — he tried to remember any more details about his attacker.

And in reviewing his description, Danny realized something. "I've seen him before," he said to himself.

_Unexpected._


	3. Chapter 3

**Unexpected**

**Chapter 3**

Lying in the back of the ambulance, Danny Williams recalled the shooter's face. "I've seen him before," he said, feebly shaking his head. "Can't remember where."

"Hush, Danny, take it easy," EMT Ab Riley instructed, as he took his patient's blood pressure.

Danny focused on the memory, but the image refused to resolve. It was static, frozen. Then part of the puzzle came clear to the detective.

"No, never saw him," Danny muttered to himself. "Saw his photo. But when?"

Danny puzzled over it all the way to the ER.

The paramedic eyed his friend in concern. The improving vital signs didn't match his observations. Danny was quiet and a quiet Danny was not well.

"How are you feeling, pal?" Riley asked. "You're awfully quiet."

His musing interrupted, Danny glared at the paramedic in outrage. "Quiet? I've been shot. My daughter has been kidnapped. Should I be singing jazz and tap-dancing around the back of the ambulance?" The vexation in his voice was clear despite the muffling oxygen mask.

Riley grinned. "So you are feeling better?"

Danny took his mind off Grace and put it on himself. He was feeling stronger, less lightheaded, though his side throbbed painfully. The oxygen and the IV were helping banish the shock of his shooting.

"Yeah, thanks, Riley," he admitted.

Riley's partner Margrette Chandler backed the ambulance toward the Emergency Room entrance.

"You cooperate, Danny, and you might get out of here sooner than later," Riley advised. "Dr. Huang is a father, too. He'll understand why you want to get back to work. But he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't run tests to make sure you're not bleeding internally."

"OK, I'll be good," Danny sighed. "But Grace …"

"I'll pray for her," Riley said, as he pushed the rear doors open.

That meant a lot. Absalom Hezekiah Riley was the son of missionaries and firmly believed in the power of prayer. Danny Williams wasn't so sure God would listen to him, but, for Grace, he'd take all the help he could get.

* * *

><p>Steve watched the ambulance leave. His hands twitched with the desire to grab the wheel of his truck and follow; but he turned back to the investigation, as he'd promised his partner.<p>

He picked up the pink backpack dropped in the parking lot. Grace's cell phone fell from a pocket. When activated, the phone displayed the message "One missed call from Danno." Lips tight with suppressed emotion, Steve bagged Grace's belongings. When he was sure he had his voice under control, he said, "Kono, Danny said the gun was an automatic, so there should be shell casings."

"Right, boss." Kono surprised Steve by dropping to her knees at his feet, next to the items left behind by the EMTs. She bagged Danny's Hawaiian shirt as evidence, then studied his Kevlar vest. She pried at the layers of Kevlar cloth with tweezers and pulled out two bullets, dropping them into an evidence bag she held up for Steve to see.

"Twenty-two caliber," Steve commented. "Lucky for Danny it wasn't heavier."

"Amen," Chin said, as he came up with the teacher who crossed himself in agreement. "Our shooter probably chose a small gun, easy to conceal," Chin continued. "Can you tell us where the gunman was standing, Mr. Martin?"

The teacher pointed to a space between two SUVs. The Five-0 officers spread out, searching for a gleam of gold on the ground.

"Here," Kono said, collecting a casing lodged beneath a tire.

"Here's the other one," Chin said from nearby.

The crime scene techs were just arriving. Steve gave them the bullets and the casings, then directed them to fingerprint the two SUVs in case the gunman touched one of them. One of the vehicles looked promising. It was clean and shiny from a recent carwash.

"There are prints here," Gus White said, as he set down his case and pulled on his gloves. "Might be the driver's, but maybe we'll be lucky."

"It's not the driver's," Martin offered, seeing the large handprint become visible under the dusting of powder. "Mrs. Han is a tiny woman and there aren't any men in her household, but it could be the guy who washed the car," he added, growing discouraged again.

"Or someone who just walked through the parking lot," White agreed. "We won't jump to any conclusions. We just follow the evidence."

"The trouble is, following the evidence takes time we don't have," Steve said tightly. "We've got a kidnapped child to find."

"Missing children are always a top priority, commander. And Grace Williams is one of ours," White said calmly. It didn't matter if you liked Danny Williams (Which Gus White did) or Five-0, a member of a cop's family was missing and that hit home to every officer on the force. "All this evidence goes to the front of the line."

"Thanks, Gus."

"Anytime, Steve. But let's not make this a habit."

"God, no," Kono murmured.

"How's Danny?" White asked, as he methodically photographed and collected the handprint. Haste would only spoil the evidence.

"Broken ribs, maybe internal injuries, but the only thing that matters to him right now is finding his daughter."

"Right. Evidence coming ASAP."

"We'll leave you to it," Steve said. He gestured at his team to follow him.

"Where are we going?" Kono asked.

"First, back to the office to collect some gear," Steve answered.

"Then we need to talk to Rachel," Chin deduced.

Steve nodded. He hesitated by his Silverado, seeing Danny's Camaro in the next aisle over. He couldn't bear to drive his partner's car right now. He tossed the Camaro's keys to Chin.

"Pick up Kono's car downtown, then meet me at the office."

* * *

><p>The closed van stopped. The engine shut off. Nine-year-old Grace Williams heard the driver's door slam shut and footsteps on gravel, then the back door swung open.<p>

A tall, skinny Hawaiian stood there. Even to Grace's untrained eye, he was obviously the brother of the man who'd grabbed her. He glowered at the man called The Boss.

"You didn't say there'd be shooting," he accused, not as if he worried about the shooting, but because he didn't like surprises.

"He was a cop," his brother said, at the same time The Boss said, "He had a gun."

The driver, who Grace dubbed Grouchy, frowned more deeply.

"That'll stir up a hornet's nest," he warned.

"What's done is done," The Boss snarled. He climbed out of the van and reached for Grace.

She shrank back. "Don't touch me!" she ordered.

The Boss paused, tilting his head in consideration. He absently fingered his sore nose while he thought.

Grace was glad to see the eye she'd hit was red and swollen and both eyes were gaining dark rings from the nose she'd broken.

"All right," The Boss decided. "You do what I tell you and I won't touch you," he told Grace. "Now come out here."

He stood back and let Grace scramble down by herself.

Grace saw they were in an abandoned construction site. A chain-link fence with gaps surrounded an unfinished parking area. A four-story office building stood fully built but unfinished, concrete slab walls unpainted, grounds unlandscaped.

The Boss fiddled with a complex electronic lock on a side door, then he pointed Grace up the uncarpeted, concrete stairs. Construction litter lay here and there, bits of electrical wire, random lengths of PVC pipe, tufts of cottony insulation and lots of dust.

"Third floor," The Boss instructed.

The girl climbed two flights of stairs, closely followed by Grouchy and his brother that Grace silently named Scaredy. Grace stopped beside the door that had a tattered paper labeled "3" taped to it.

Two more complicated locks were on the door. Grace noticed a camera high in a corner with red lights blinking.

Unlocking the door, The Boss gestured down the hall. Without being told, Grace walked to stand beside the only door with locks on it.

"Smart girl." The Boss unlocked the door and stood back to let Scaredy escort Grace inside.

Originally intended to be a small office, the room had been converted into a bedroom. There was one twin-sized bed, a table with a lamp and a bathroom with a toilet, sink and no door.

Scaredy looked nervously at his boss, standing in the door, then spoke to the girl.

"I noticed when we were following you last week that you like to color, so I brought some paper and crayons," he said, pointing at a cardboard box in the corner. "And a couple of books my sister liked when she was a kid."

As creepy as it was to think they had been following her, Grace recognized kindness when she saw it.

"Thank you," she said.

"There are crackers, fruit and bottles of water in there, too. If you need something, bang on the floor and we'll hear you. We're right downstairs."

"It's not a hotel and you're not room service," Grouchy growled.

"She's just a kid," Scaredy answered.

"Dinner in two hours," The Boss told his captive.

When Scaredy passed Grace on his way to the door, he whispered, "I'm sorry about your father."

Grace waited until the door clicked decisively shut. She looked for more cameras, but didn't see any. She looked out the window, and saw a bare field, a copse of ragged trees and a sheer drop two stories down.

She went back to the bed, put her bruised, cut and tear-stained face in her hands and cried. She was trying so hard to be brave like her father would have wanted, but she was just a little girl and her father was dead.

* * *

><p>There was no easy way to tell a pregnant woman that her daughter had been kidnapped.<p>

Rachel Edwards shrieked so loudly her husband came running from his office, forcing Steve to explain again.

"Kidnapped!" Stricken, Stan put his arm around Rachel's shoulders. She calmed enough for her screams to become coherent words. Angry words.

"Where's Daniel? He was supposed to pick her up. How could he let this happen?"

"Hey!" All Steve's worry and fear came out in a bellow that silenced her diatribe. But he was no angrier than Kono. She moved forward and pushed Rachel in the chest, just a tap, but it forced the woman to step backwards.

"That's enough! Danny took two bullets trying to protect Grace. Don't you blame him for this!"

"Danny," Rachel gasped.

"Shot? Is he OK?" Stan asked.

"Fortunately he didn't have time to change out of his Kevlar vest when he left work," said Chin, the voice of reason. "He's at the hospital for tests, but we think he'll be OK."

"And Grace?" Stan asked.

"We're doing everything we can," Chin answered, giving his friends and Rachel a chance to get their emotions under control. "Now we need your help."

"Of course," Stan said, pulling his shocked wife aside so the Five-0 officers could enter.

"Excuse me," Rachel said suddenly and ran for the bathroom. They could hear her throwing up and then water running.

"It's hard enough to keep your emotions under control when you're pregnant, without being hit with something like this," Chin reminded his friends. With his big family, Chin had suffered through many women's pregnancy mood swings.

Kono looked embarrassed and apologized to Grace's mother when she returned. Rachel accepted graciously. "No, I needed that. Hysteria won't help Grace." Her eyes were full of fear, but she lifted her chin bravely. "What can we do?"

* * *

><p>In Stan Edwards' home office, Chin had set up a phone speaker so everyone in the room could hear the kidnapper's call — if he called — but the kidnapper would only be able to hear the person talking into the handset. Chin had his laptop connected to the powerful system at Five-0 headquarters, all ready to track any incoming call.<p>

"Why are you doing this?" Rachel asked nervously. "You think this is a kidnap for ransom?"

"We hope it is," Kono murmured to herself, but not as quietly as she thought, because Rachel heard her.

"What do you mean?" the distraught mother demanded. "What? Do you think this was some revenge plot against Daniel? Has his work followed me even into my new home?"

The pregnant woman cradled her belly protectively, tears flowing down her face. Steve grabbed her by the arms gently but firmly.

"You listen to me. We don't know why Grace was taken. Don't you give Danny any shit about this being his fault. Do you understand me?"

Rachel nodded, gulping down her tears. "I'm sorry. I know Danny would never hurt Grace deliberately."

Seeing she was calmer, Steve released her and repeated. "OK, we don't know why Grace was taken. You and Stan are well off, so ransom is always a possibility. If this is about ransom, we'll be ready for the kidnapper's call. If this is about revenge on Danny or you or Stan, well, all we can do is follow up on the leads we have. Every cop in the city is on the lookout for Grace and the crime lab is working overtime on the evidence."

"And if it's …" Rachel stopped, unable to say the words, but her husband knew her fear. Grace was a pretty little girl.

"What if it's a child predator?" he asked in a quiet voice, putting his arm around Rachel's shoulders. Grace wasn't his child, but he loved her as if she was.

"It's not likely," Chin said in his calm, confident, reassuring manner. "We have evidence that at least three people were involved in the abduction. Child predators usually work alone. This has the hallmarks of a kidnap for ransom, which means we have more time to find Grace."

* * *

><p>While they waited for a call, Steve paced and Rachel and Stan huddled together on the couch, talking in low voices. Kono and Chin used Kono's iPad to trace the partial license plate number the teacher had given them. It was the best lead they had, the only one they could follow immediately. Unfortunately, Mr. Martin had only caught the first four digits, which meant there were a lot of possibilities. However, they had hopes the van's description would help reduce the possibilities.<p>

"Thirty-seven? That doesn't narrow it down very much," Kono said.

"I had a thought, cuz. If I was going to kidnap someone, I wouldn't use my own car," Chin said. "See if any of these were listed as stolen?"

Kono typed for a moment. "No luck, cuz. No vans with these license numbers have been listed as stolen. In fact, no vehicles of any kind with these license numbers have been listed as stolen. And, before you ask, no one's reported missing license plates, either."

"Damn." Chin pressed his fist to his mouth in thought.

Kono brightened. "What about rentals?" She typed for a few moments, then thumped her fist on the table. "Oh, come on!"

Eliminating private vehicles had only eliminated six of the 37.

"That can't be right," Chin protested. "How can there be 31 rental vans with the same series of numbers?"

"Looks like our best lead isn't much of a lead at all," Kono said sadly.

* * *

><p><em>Unexpected<em>


	4. Chapter 4

**Unexpected**

**Chapter 4**

"How could there be so many rental vans that have plates with the same numbers?" Chin said in exasperation.

Both the cousins bent over their computers. Cross-referencing DMV records with business licenses, they came to the same conclusion. A local car rental agency had expanded into commercial vans and panel trucks about two years previously. It had purchased and registered a whole fleet all at about the same time, so they all had the same four characters beginning their plates.

"At least we eliminated seven more," Kono said in consolation.

"Yeah, the seven white vans. The rest are black or navy blue. 'Dark' colors, as our witness described," Chin said in disgust.

* * *

><p>"So, what did I miss?" a demanding new voice intruded.<p>

"Daniel?" Rachel's voice combined surprise and relief.

"Danny!" Kono exclaimed, delighted to see her friend up and around, though pale and walking with his right arm pressed to his side.

"Danny!" Steve said angrily.

The detective nodded to the others in the room and waved a handful of papers at Steve, forestalling an epic rant about neglecting his health and not trusting his teammates. (Steve had learned ranting from the best.)

One at a time, Danny laid the papers in front of his partner. "Test results – two cracked ribs, taped. No sign of internal bleeding. And this is the doctor's release," he said impatiently.

Steve snatched the last paper from Danny's hand and read it carefully.

Danny put his hands on his hips, winced and crossed his arms instead. Steve's sharp gaze did not miss the pain on his friend's face.

"What? Do you think I forged them?" Danny protested.

His friends could tell Danny was making an effort to maintain his bantering tone. For Rachel's sake and his own, and especially for Grace, he couldn't show his deep, soul-stealing fear for his kidnapped daughter.

"It says light duty," Steve accused.

"Can it get lighter than standing here waiting for the phone to ring?" Danny snapped, but his eyes begged Steve not to order him away. "Steve, please, this is my daughter."

The commander's gaze softened. "If the doctor says it's OK, I guess it's OK; but at least sit down."

"No." Danny held up his hands to show he wasn't just being stubborn. "It hurts when I sit down. It hurts to stand up again. It hurts to bend, to cough, and, yes, like the old joke, it hurts to laugh. So I'll just stand if you don't mind." He lounged against the wall, hands in his pockets.

Steve smiled the first smile he'd given since he'd heard "officer down." Danny might be hurt and he might be scared for his daughter, but he was still Danny.

"All right, Ilene.* have it your own way."

Danny rolled his eyes at the sophomoric joke, then stiffened when the phone rang, as did everyone else in the room.

* * *

><p>As previously agreed, Grace's mother answered the call.<p>

"If you want to see your daughter again, do what I tell you. And no cops," the kidnapper ordered, his speech distorted by an electronic voice changer.

Anger sparked in Rachel's eyes. "It's a bit late for that, isn't it?" she said tartly. "After you shot a police officer in broad daylight in a school parking lot!"

There was a pause at the other end of the line. Danny pictured the kidnapper reassessing the situation in a cool, calculating manner.

"Fair enough," the man said. "So I suppose the cops are listening now."

Rachel both looked at Steve. He frowned. It wasn't good to give the kidnapper information, but this was nothing he didn't already know. Steve took the receiver from Rachel's hand. "We're listening."

"Who is this?"

"This is Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett of the Five-0 task force."

"Grace's Uncle Steve?"

"Yes. Is Grace all right? Let Mrs. Edwards talk to her daughter."

"Say 'please'."

Steve and Danny simultaneously rolled their eyes. "Please," Steve complied.

"Mommy?" Grace's voice came tentatively over the phone, which now had the hollow sound of a speaker call.

"Grace? Grace, honey, are you OK?"

"I'm OK, but they killed daddy!"

The agony in her voice was more than her listeners could stand.

"Grace, your father isn't dead," Rachel hastened to reassure her daughter. She ignored the electronic gasp in the background from the kidnapper.

"He isn't?" the girl said, doubt and hope warring in her tearful voice.

Steve wiped his eyes. Kono let the tears flow freely as she and Chin worked frantically to trace the call.

For the first time, Danny looked at the woman who had claimed to be pregnant with his child, but wasn't. His hand covered hers for a moment as he took the receiver.

"We'll get her back," he promised in a low, firm voice. Grim-faced, Danny took the receiver. "Grace."

"Danno? You're OK? But he shot you."

"I had my vest on, monkey. I'm not hurt, just a little bruised. We're going to get you back, Grace. Don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid," the girl said staunchly. "I know you and Uncle Steve will find me."

"You'd better not try," the kidnapper's voice came back, switching off the speaker.

"You listen to me." Danny's voice was heavy with menace. "This island won't be big enough to hide you if you hurt my daughter."

"I can't believe you're still alive to threaten me," the kidnapper said thoughtfully.

"This is a good news, bad news kind of thing," Danny replied. "Good news, because I am alive and you're not up for murder yet. Bad news, because I am alive I have seen your ugly mugs and I can identify you better than any 9-year-old girl ever could. So if you hurt my little girl, I will find you and kill you in the most painful way my Navy SEAL partner can devise, and he's very inventive. But if you make sure my daughter stays healthy, it will be good news for all of us."

There was silence at the other end. Again Danny could almost hear the kidnapper's thoughts like a GPS, "Off route, recalculating."

"If you want her back safe and sound, let me talk to Edwards."

Stan looked up in alarm.

"Stan?" Danny asked.

"Yes."

Danny passed the phone to his ex-wife's husband.

"Who is this? Why did you take Grace? What do you want?" Stan demanded fearfully.

"You owe me, Edwards. The girl is merely collateral. You have two days to collect $2 million. I'll call and tell you where to deliver it."

"Two million?" I can't raise that much cash in two days!"

The kidnapper snorted. "Liar. Two days." He ended the call.

Danny sighed, his anger melting into pessimism. "He didn't seem to care how long that call went on, did he?"

"Tell me you managed to trace it?" Steve said to Chin.

The Hawaiian detective shook his head. "No, it was a voice over IP call routed through I don't know how many countries. I couldn't trace it. Knowing what we're up against, I can prepare for the second call, but this kidnapper is techno-savvy, boss. I'm sorry, Danny."

"I know you did the best you could." The Jerseyan refused to take out his frustrations on his friends. But Stan Edwards was a rival, not a friend. Danny rounded on the businessman. "What is it, Stan? What are you into this time?" he growled.

"Me? Nothing, Danny, I swear! I don't know…"

Fists clenched, Danny stalked the taller man. Stan had put Grace in danger once before. If he'd done it again, Danny was going to make him pay, cracked ribs or no cracked ribs. Stan retreated from the injured detective. Steve got between them quickly, hands gesturing "stop."

"Danny, Danny, take it easy," Steve placated his friend. "Stan's not the enemy here."

Danny turned away, combing a hand through his dirty blond hair. "OK, OK."

Once he was certain Danny wouldn't attack, Steve turned to Stan, who had retreated to the couch next to Rachel.

"I haven't …" Stan started.

Steve held up his stop sign again. "I'm not saying you've done anything wrong, but this guy obviously has a grudge. I want you to tell us everything you can. Anything. Anyone who might have a beef with you."

"Have you gotten any threats?" Chin said, stepping next to Steve.

"Any disgruntled employees?" Kono added, moving to Steve's other side.

With Stan effectively surrounded by Five-0 officers peppering him with questions, Danny paced. He held his right arm close to his body, protecting his sore side, and rubbed his face and the back of his neck with his left hand. He felt so tired. The burst of emotion at hearing Grace's voice had drained him. All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but he forced himself to stay on his feet, trying to think of some way to help his daughter.

Danny wandered the perimeter of the room, idly studying the luxurious furnishings, the expensive tchotchkes and the photos on the wall. He remembered the last time he was in Stan's study, the only time. After Rachel and Grace had been carjacked, Danny had brought them home to find the house had been ransacked. Stan's office in particular had been torn apart, with photos of his family and his business triumphs on the floor.

Photos? A tiny bell tinkled faintly in Danny's memory. His eye was drawn to a picture on the wall, a group photo of Stan's company with a tall man smirking at the back. The detective snatched the photo off the wall.

"This is the guy!"

Everyone looked at him, as he pushed past his friends and waved the photo under Stan's nose.

"Who's this?" Danny demanded, pointing.

"Jasper Dean. Why?" the bewildered businessman blurted.

"Because that's the man who shot me!"

* * *

><p><em>Unexpected.<em>

* * *

><p>* Ilene  I lean – pun from my childhood.


	5. Chapter 5

**Unexpected**

**Chapter 5**

"Jasper Dean? The kidnapper!" Stan protested. "But …" He blinked. His voice died away.

"What?" Danny demanded.

"That way the kidnapper stopped to think when he realized Danny was alive..."

"Recalculating…" Danny said in a computer monotone.

"Yes! Jasper always did that. If he was surprised, he'd stop and think before saying anything." Stan shook his head in disbelief. "It was Jasper," he whispered.

"Did he have a grudge against you?" Chin asked.

"No, not against me. At least, I didn't think so. But against the company," Stan explained. "We were putting up an office complex. It was almost done, just the cosmetic features left to go, but then the financing company went bankrupt. The board blamed Jasper — he was the project director. Amy Ryman and I thought it was just bad luck, but the rest of the board, well, they saw it as a way to cut another salary. They outvoted us and let Jasper go — no severance. He was with the company for years."

"That would make anyone mad," Kono commented. "What can you tell us about him?"

"He's big," Stan said, then realized they already knew that from Danny's description. "He used to be a boxer. Won a couple of matches in his age group, until he was banned a couple of years ago."

"Banned, what for?" Steve asked.

"Hit opponent hit below the belt and Jasper went ballistic. He beat the man badly, ignoring the referee and everyone watching. When the man went down, Jasper kicked him repeatedly until half a dozen officials pulled him away."

"So he has a temper." That frightened Danny.

"Yes, he's usually very calm and calculating, but he can fly off the handle when he's crossed. I mean, he couldn't expect to get away with kicking his opponent in the boxing ring, but he did it anyway. 'To get justice,' he said later."

"So kidnapping the daughter of a board member might be another way to get 'justice," Steve said heavily.

Stan nodded.

Danny thought about his daughter in the hands of a man known to go postal. The detective's knees felt weak. Danny swayed, bumping Kono's shoulder. She and Chin steadied their Jersey friend.

"I'm OK," the Jerseyan said, but no one believed him.

"Danny?" Steve asked in concern.

"I'm just tired," Danny admitted unwillingly.

"He needs to rest," Steve told the Edwards. "Is there somewhere he can lie down?"

"Grace's room," said Danny, Rachel and Stan simultaneously. Despite past tensions and current worries, they all smiled at their unanimous reluctance to have Danny anywhere near the Edwards' marriage bed.

As Steve began to support Danny toward Grace's bedroom, the detective protested. "Just let me sit awhile, I'll be fine."

"Come on, Danny," Steve said. "You won't be any good to Grace if you collapse."

Kono shook her finger at him. "Danny, you gave us the clue. Let us track down Dean for you."

"Can you?" the detective asked hopefully.

Already seated at his computer, Chin gave an evil chuckle and twiddled his fingers over the keyboard like a pianist warming up. "Brah, it's so much easier when we have a name."

* * *

><p>Danny shook off Steve's help and climbed the stairs slowly, but steadily, while his friend hovered at his side. Steve helped Danny lie down in Grace's bed, pulled off his shoes and spread a spare blanket over him.<p>

"How can I sleep with Grace in the hands of a monster?" Danny complained. "She sounded so scared. She was crying."

"She wasn't crying for herself, Danny. She was crying for you," Steve said. "I don't think she's scared now, knowing her Danno is looking for her."

Danny took a sliver of comfort from that. "And her Uncle Steve," Danny reminded his friend with a minuscule smile. "She obviously told Dean about her scary Uncle Steve."

"Yes, scary Uncle Steve isn't going to stop until Grace is safe. You have my word on it."

"Never doubted it," Danny answered. He closed his eyes and Steve left quietly, but Danny wasn't asleep. He was worrying about his daughter.

* * *

><p>Stan persuaded his wife she needed to rest, too, for the baby's sake. He put her to bed, waited until she slept, then slipped out to return to his study. But, almost of their own accord, his feet detoured by Grace's room. The door was only half closed. Stan looked in and saw Danny, fully dressed apart from his shoes, lying on his daughter's bed. His left arm was across his eyes to block out the light. His right still guarded his injured side.<p>

Stan studied his rival for a moment, not realizing his aftershave betrayed his presence.

"You might be able to take me now, if you wanted to go for it," the detective said without looking.

Stan had no answer for that. He might be bigger than Danny and unhurt, but Danny was a fighter from the top of his brushed back blond hair to the tips of his loafer-clad toes.

"I didn't mean to wake you," Stan said, avoiding an answer to Danny's comment.

"Then why did you come?" Danny asked logically. Not that he'd been asleep. Thoughts of Grace in danger prevented that.

"I thought we should talk, but now I don't know what to say," Stan admitted honestly.

Danny wished he knew how much Rachel had told Stan. Her husband knew she had run off to New Jersey and had expected Danny to follow. He knew she'd returned because she was carrying his child. But did he know that at first she'd said the child was Danny's? Did he know they'd slept together?

"What's to say? Rachel chose you." Danny couldn't control the bitterness in his voice.

"But she still loves you." Stan's voice was just as bitter. The tall, dark-haired man leaned against the doorjamb. "You're exciting, a detective on this state police task force. I'm just a businessman, treading water in a bad economy."

"You're tall. You're rich. And you're safe. In the end, Rachel prefers safe." Danny sat up, winced and clutched his side. "Right now, I can't really blame her," he said, breathing through the spasm.

Stan started to say something, but Danny cut him off. "Look, the only real advantage I have is being the father of her child. We'll be even on that score, in — what — four or five months?" Danny sighed. "Stan, you know I never wanted to get divorced. I was in denial for years. But now I have to accept that I have to give up any hope of getting Rachel back." He bared his teeth. "But I'll never give up Grace."

"I love Grace, Danny. I would never hurt her."

"I know. And this time it's not your fault, Stan. You can't do anything about crazies," Danny said wearily.

That reminded Stan about the one thing he could do. "I'd better go and see if I can give Commander McGarrett any more information about Jasper Dean."

"Good idea. I'd better try to sleep or Steve will drag me home." And that would just about kill him, both men knew.

Stan went back to his study. Danny levered himself off the bed with an effort, shut the door and, after a moment's thought, pushed a rattling box of Legos in front of it. If he was going to sleep in the house of his enemy, he wanted some warning if the door opened. OK, maybe he was being paranoid but he'd been shot picking up his daughter at school! He was entitled to his paranoia.

* * *

><p>While Danny tried to sleep, Stan returned to the Five-0 officers in his study.<p>

Chin and Kono were typing and swiping at their computers, while Steve talked to the crime lab on his cell phone.

"Hold on, Charlie," he said, as he turned to Stan. "Has Dean ever been fingerprinted?"

"We have fingerprints in our personnel files," Stan said. "They're not public records, but I can give you access."

Steve pointed him to Chin, who found the records and forwarded the prints to Charlie Fong in the crime lab. Charlie was waiting to compare Dean's prints to the handprint found at the scene.

"They're coming over now," Steve said into his phone.

Comparing prints one-to-one was quicker than thought. On Charlie's screen, the points of comparison popped up. Two dozen. Three.

"It's a match," Charlie told Steve.

"Confirmed," Steve told the others.

"Of course it's confirmed," the civilian said plaintively, showing a surprising faith in his wife's ex. "Danny ID'd Jasper. But how does that help find Grace?"

"Patience," Steve said, though he was pacing anxiously. "With confirmation, we can get a warrant to search Dean's house and his records."

"And the rental car company's records," Chin added.

"Danny would be proud, boss," Kono said.

Steve nodded. He did not want to mess this one up. Danny would kill him. And Steve would let him.

"Judge Watanabe is waiting for the information from Charlie," Kono told Stan. "She hates crimes against children. With a witness ID and the handprint to confirm Dean's presence, she'll grant the warrant. In fact, here it comes now."

The faxed warrant in hand — or in computer — Chin and Kono began to rummage through Dean's phone and financial records, while Steve called the rental car company and got confirmation that Dean had rented one of the commercial vans in the license plate sequence. The van had not been returned and was not due back for a week. Steve got the full license number and issued a BOLO.

Chin went after the phone records, but they were unexciting. Dean hadn't used his cell for two weeks and, as far as Chin could determine, the phone hadn't left Dean's apartment in all that time.

"If he's smart enough to rig a VOIP call I can't trace, he's smart enough to use a burn phone to do it," Chin sighed.

"I talked to his landlady," Steve said. "He told her he was going on vacation to the mainland. He's already been gone a week."

"He wouldn't take Grace to his own house," Stan protested.

"I've seen dumber things," Chin said. "He rented the van with his own driver's license because he never expected to be suspected, but it doesn't look like he's at his home."

"What if he goes home or calls? Won't he be suspicious that someone was asking around?" Kono asked.

"I pretended to be calling about a job interview," Steve replied. "He's been sending out resumes via computer. I just picked one of the companies."

Kono nodded, as she continued to pursue the money angle, seeking any unusual expenditures that might point to Dean's location. "Oh oh," she said.

"What?" Steve demanded, his nerves taut.

"Two weeks ago, just about the time he stopped using his cell, he purchased a bunch of electronic equipment — high tech locks, alarms and surveillance equipment."

"Oh," Stan said in sudden realization. Everyone looked at him. "That's what he did, before he moved into management. Jasper was an electrical engineer specializing in security systems."

"So when we do find Grace, it won't be easy to get her out," Kono said heavily.

_Unexpected_


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's Note: Finally some action!_

**Unexpected**

**Chapter 6**

Kidnapper and shooter Jasper Dean was also an engineer specializing in security systems.

"Besides the cameras and alarms, Dean also purchased a generator and some camping equipment and a few housewares like table lamps," Kono reported, checking Dean's credit card statements via computer. "Then he made a big cash withdrawal from his bank and I don't see any more credit card purchases. He must be paying cash."

Steve switched on his Navy SEAL mode and began analyzing his enemy. "He's going to want a private place, where he can hold a child and not attract attention. Do you know any place like that, Stan? Maybe a hunting cabin?"

Stan shook his head. "No, he was never an outdoorsman. He took vacations in places like Las Vegas and New York, big cities with lots of bright lights."

"So, are we looking for the traditional abandoned warehouse?" Kono joked feebly.

"Abandoned…" Stan said thoughtfully.

The Five-0 officers all looked at him.

"I told you he was fired when a project he was managing ran out of money. That building is mostly complete — and abandoned. He probably could get access to a couple of other stalled projects, too, but I think Oahu Office Park would appeal to his sense of 'justice.'"

"I think we need to check this one out ourselves," Steve decided.

He started for the door, but Kono and Chin exchanged a look and didn't budge.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Aren't you going to get Danny?" Chin asked.

"He needs to rest," Steve protested.

"He'll never forgive you if you do this without him," Kono said.

And she was right.

* * *

><p>Opening the door tipped over the Lego box, which woke Danny from his hour's nap.<p>

"What the...?"

"Don't ask," Danny advised. "What's going on?"

"We have a lead on where they may be holding Grace," Steve said.

Danny vaulted to his feet, then had to stop, wheezing and cursing at the sudden pain.

"Maybe you should stay here," Steve said, clutching Danny's elbow to steady him.

Danny's glare could have blistered paint.

"Yeah, Kono said that would be your reaction."

"Smart girl. Smarter than you."

While they went to the Camaro, Steve explained their findings. As he climbed gingerly into the passenger seat, Danny couldn't believe it was still daylight. Only six hours had passed since he'd gone to pick up Grace after a short day at school, but it seemed like six years. The September sun had just slipped below the horizon and the tropical sky was still bright.

Danny muttered as the seat belt pressed his sore side.

"You all right?" Steve asked.

"Is Grace safe at home?" Danny countered.

"So, stupid question," Steve admitted. "Answer it anyway." The Navy commander's voice held a hint of steel.

"I'm tired and sore, but I'm too scared to relax," Danny answered honestly. I can rest later, after we find Grace."

* * *

><p>While Kono drove, Chin talked to California via her iPad.<p>

Chin had gotten lucky with the security company. Five-0's warrant probably didn't cover information about the products Dean purchased, but Chin had given it a try. He called the Los Angeles offices of the manufacturer. It was 10 p.m. there, but round-the-clock customer service was a company guarantee. A security consultant answered within two rings.

Chin began to explain, but as soon as he said the word "kidnapping," the company representative told him to hold the line. "Our president will want to hear this."

Within moments, the call had been transferred to the president at his home and Chin remembered where he'd heard the name Michael Vanstrum before. Vanstrum had started his security supply company after his 5-year-old son was kidnapped and murdered. When he heard his products were being used by a suspected kidnapper, he fired up his computer and gave Chin access to the specs for all the products on Dean's invoice.

With the programmer's codes, Chin would be able to access the wi-fi cameras and the readouts from the alarm sensors. Dean had probably chosen Vanstrum because of its reputation. The systems were considered virtually unhackable from the outside, but with the codes, Chin was on the inside.

"You can't shut them off remotely," Vanstrum said. "Even if you shut off the power, they all have battery backups. The door locks, too. The door locks can't be accessed remotely at all. They have to be operated manually."

"Thanks for all your help," Chin said with heartfelt gratitude.

"You just find that little girl," Vanstrum said, his voice choked by his terrible memories.

"We'll find her," Chin said. "She's part of our family."

"Let me know what happens?" the man asked.

Chin promised.

* * *

><p>Night had fallen when they drove past the suspected hideout. The construction site looked dark and deserted from the road. Steve stopped the Camaro on a side street. Kono pulled her Cruze in behind it.<p>

"I'm going to scout around," the Navy SEAL said.

"What if you trip an alarm?" Kono asked.

"All the gear Dean bought is meant for use on buildings. As long as Steve stays well away from the structures, he shouldn't be detected," Chin reassured his cousin.

"That all the gear we know Dean bought," Danny reminded them. "He started paying cash, remember."

"I've been thinking about that," Chin said. "Dean rented the van in his own name. He seems to be too arrogant to believe he'd be suspected. Maybe he didn't start paying cash to hide his tracks but because he wanted to buy something he couldn't put on his credit card."

Danny touched his side and Chin nodded.

"Like a gun," Kono agreed.

"Guys, this is what I'm trained for," Steve reminded his friends. "If there are cameras or tripwires, I'll find them. We're not talking about a trained commando, here. He's a paper pusher."

"He's an electrical engineer," Danny said pessimistically. "With a generator and a crateload of high tech surveillance gear."

"I'll be fine, Danny," Steve said impatiently.

"For once, it's not you I'm worried about," Danny said somberly.

Steve gripped his partner's shoulder. "If she's here, I'll find her," he promised.

Steve's dark gray cargo pants and black T-shirt were fine for night maneuvers. He put on an earwig so he could communicate with his team and checked his weapon, then turned to go.

Danny was standing there, holding out a Kevlar vest.

"I'm just going to take a look around," Steve protested.

"And I was just going to pick my daughter up at school."

Steve opened his mouth to argue further.

Danny shook his head. "Nonnegotiable, babe."

"OK, fine." Steve quickly donned the vest. "There. Happy?"

"Replay previous conversation. Is Grace safe? Then no, I'm not happy. Now go, find my daughter, and don't get caught."

The plea in Danny's voice made Steve's eyes sting. He wiped them brusquely, patted Danny's shoulder and faded into the darkness.

* * *

><p>The front of the building was dark and seemed deserted. Steve cautiously circled the structure, moving from cover to cover in the half-wild vacant lot behind it, staying as far from the building as he could. He stopped in a copse of scraggly, half-dead trees.<p>

Steve's heart leapt in triumph. "I've got lights," he said into his com. Lights in a building that shouldn't have electricity!

One window on the second floor showed a crack of light between opaque curtains. Shadows passed, shapes the size of men, but Steve couldn't tell how many men.

"What about Grace?" Danny's voice came hoarsely into Steve's ear.

"Hang on."

The curtains weren't drawn in the window directly above the men, but the light there was faint, hardly more than a nightlight's glow. Steve waited patiently, hoping for a view of the occupant. After two, six, ten long moments (OK, maybe not so patiently), a figure came into view. It was mostly just a silhouette, but it was child-size, female and had pigtails. The commander focused his night vision binoculars on the window, just as the girl turned and the dim light fell full on her face.

"I've got her, Danny. I see Grace and she's OK."

The sound he got in response was as much a sob as a word.

"Hang on, partner," Steve said. "I'll be right back. I just want to check for alarms."

Steve used the binoculars to scan for surveillance equipment. He didn't see anything out in the field, but a tiny red light gleamed at the stairwell entrance. He pulled out an infrared sensor. The camera and electronic door locks put out hardly any heat, but Steve had very good equipment.

"Chin, there's a camera and electronic lock on the side door," Steve reported over the com.

"I've found the same thing on this side," Chin answered. "And I've managed to tap into the wi-fi signal for the cameras. There are cameras outside each of the two stairwells and one on each floor inside. That's ten."

"Can you fool them?" Steve asked.

"Easily," Chin replied confidently. "I can make a recording of empty stairwell and feed it back on a loop."

"Good. I'm on my way back. Kono, get Aku for me. I don't care if he's off duty, I need him."

"Right, boss."

Lt. David Akutagawa was head of SWAT for HPD. Though he should have been off duty, in fact he was still at headquarters. He wasn't going home until Danny's daughter was found.

Steve emerged from the darkness and took the cell phone Kono had ready for him. The commander described the situation and told Aku what he had in mind.

"All right. I'll pick up your equipment at Five-0. We'll be there in 20. Tell Oneone* to hang on. We'll get Grace back."

* * *

><p>Aku was as good as his word. The SWAT van rumbled up quietly in 19 minutes by a anxious Danny's watch.<p>

They unloaded a winch and climbing gear along with their tactical equipment.

"You're going to go down from the roof?" Aku asked.

"That's right."

The commander explained that Chin could fool the stairwell cameras, but they couldn't remotely deactivate the locks and alarms on the third floor doors. They would have to be handled manually which would either take time or be noisy, "depending on whether you use Kelly finesse or McGarrett brute force," Danny said, as Kono helped him tie on a pair of sneakers.

"We know some of the kidnappers are on the second floor, but we can't take a chance that the kidnappers have left a guard on the third floor, too," Steve told Aku. "He might be able to get to Grace before we can. So we're going to go up the stairs to the roof, which doesn't seem to be alarmed; then I'm going to go down the outside to Grace's window and get her to safety."

"And then we'll all storm the second floor," Aku guessed.

"Right."

Aku hoisted the lightweight rescue winch onto Steve's back. Chin slung his trusty shotgun over his shoulder and carried his iPad lockpick. Danny and Kono followed with weapons ready. Steve hesitated a moment, looking at Danny. The detective gave him a level look that dared Steve to leave him behind.

Steve's lip twitched in a smile. "Waste of breath," he admitted.

They crossed the gravel parking lot and approached the front stairwell door. Thanks to Chin, the parking lot still looked empty to anyone watching the camera feed. It took longer to electronically crack the lock, but soon the door clicked open. Treading silently in their sneakers, the Five-0 teammates began climbing the stairs.

Chin took the point, while Kono walked behind Steve making sure the lightweight but unwieldy winch didn't bang into anything. Danny doggedly brought up the rear.

Bare concrete stairways tend to echo, so the officers had to take the steps slowly, which was fortunate, because that was the only way the injured Danny could take them.

He made it to the roof breathless, but uncomplaining. He stood guard while the others spun the vise clamps and snapped the clips to lock down the rescue winch. Steve tugged the line to test it. Satisfied it would hold his weight and Grace's, the SEAL buckled on the rescue harness and stepped to the edge of the building. Danny joined him there.

"Grace and I will be right back," Steve promised.

"Be careful, Steve," Danny said.

With a grin, Steve walked backwards off the building. "Look, I'm dangling myself from the roof," he said, as he disappeared over the edge.

Danny snorted. The high torque electric motor hummed, lowering Steve smoothly toward the window where he had seen Grace. When he could see into the girl's room, he signaled Chin to stop the winch.

Steve could see Grace sitting on the far edge of the bed, facing away from the window. He flashed his flashlight into the room to catch her attention. She saw the spot of light blinking on the wall and turned. Steve pointed the light at his face so she would recognize him.

Her bruised face brightened. Steve hurriedly held his finger to his lips.

Grace ran to the window. Steve had been prepared to cut the glass, but Grace slid the window open. Steve slithered through the opening until he was sitting on the windowsill inside.

"Uncle Steve!" Grace said in a soft yet excited voice. She threw her arms around him in relief. He was just as relieved to hug her back. "Where's Danno?" the girl asked.

"He's up on the roof waiting for you. Let's get you harnessed up and we'll go find him."

Steve was surprised when Grace backed away. "But what about Courtney?" the 9-year-old asked.

"Who?"

"Courtney," Grace said, pointing beyond the bed.

Steve signaled for more slack, then stood up and stepped forward. On the floor, beside the bed, a little girl about 4 sat with her arms locked around her knees. The little one had dark, curly hair and tear-streaks on her chubby cheeks. Her face was fearful. She cowered away when her eyes met Steve's.

"We can't leave Courtney, Uncle Steve. She was kidnapped, too."

_Unexpected_

* * *

><p>* Sandy. Aku's occasional nickname for blond-haired Danny.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

**Unexpected**

**Chapter 7**

"What about Courtney, Uncle Steve?" Grace asked again.

The flabbergasted former SEAL eyed the 4-year-old crouched in the corner. No one had realized that Dean had a second captive.

"I'll come back and get her," Steve told Grace. She gave him a look he was used to seeing on her father's face, a look usually accompanied by the words, "You moron!"

"Uncle Steve," Grace said reproachfully. "She's just little. We can't leave her alone. She's scared. Maybe you should take her first and come back for me."

Grace wasn't frightened anymore. She had perfect faith that Five-0 would rescue her now that they'd found her.

"Grace, honey, if I go back to the roof without you, your father will shoot me," Steve said. He thought for a moment. The rescue rig was rated for two grown men. He doubted the two little girls together weighed as much as a man. But he'd only brought one harness. "Grace, do you think you can hold on piggyback?"

She looked out the window, down two stories to a concrete sidewalk below.

"I'll try," she said in a shaky voice. It was a long way down.

"I'll tie you, so you can't fall," Steve reassured her as he assessed his options. His com clicked in his ear. "Hang on, your dad's getting impatient." He spoke quietly into the microphone fastened to his shoulder. "I've got a complication. Grace has a friend."

"A friend?" Danny's voice was incredulous.

"Her name is Courtney Ryman," Grace told Steve, stepping close to the mic. "Her mommy works with Step-Stan. I played with her at the company picnic."

Though Grace couldn't hear her father, he heard her over Steve's mic.

"Get that?" Steve asked.

"Yes, but it doesn't make any sense."

Steve could picture his partner scratching his head. Stan and Mrs. Ryman were the two who had spoken up on Dean's behalf. If he wanted payback, why would he kidnap their kids?

"Grace is a lot like her father. She won't leave a 4-year-old behind. Give me a minute and I'll bring them both up," Steve said.

"Ten-four," Danny answered, but Steve could hear the worry in his voice.

"I won't let anything happen to them, Danny," Steve said softly.

"I know," his partner answered.

Grace had gone to coax the tear-stained tot out of her corner. Courtney got up, then cowered back when Steve pulled out a black-handled commando knife. Grace took her hand and towed the reluctant child forward.

"This is my Uncle Steve," Grace said. "I know he looks scary, but he's here to rescue us. He likes little girls but he doesn't like nasty kidnappers."

Steve gave Courtney the flashing smile that made women melt and dogs follow him home. The positive effect was slightly diluted by the sight of him filleting one of the bed sheets, slicing it into long strips with his fearsome knife as quietly as he could.

"Hi Courtney. My name is Steve. I'm going to take you to Grace's father. He's up on the roof."

Talking quietly, he fastened the harness a round the silent 4-year-old, then he told Grace to climb on the bed behind him. He tied Grace to his back, one strip around her waist and one beneath her bottom, giving her a seat to sit on. She put her arms around his neck and he used a pair of zip cuffs to fasten her tiny wrists together.

"I know it's tight but it's only for a few minutes," he apologized.

Grace thought about the long drop and decided tight was just fine.

Steve fastened Courtney's harness to his chest and waddled to the window. He could carry the weight easily enough, but the distribution was a little awkward. He leaned out the window and signaled for his friends to take up the slack. As the winch lifted him, he walked out the window and up the wall.

Grace giggled in his ear. "Not Super SEAL. Spider SEAL," she said.

* * *

><p>Chin handled the winch while Danny and Kono pulled Steve and his double burden over the low wall and onto the roof.<p>

"Zip cuffs?" Danny said incredulously. "You handcuffed my daughter?"

"Didn't want her to lose her grip." As Kono unhooked Courtney's harness, Steve ducked out from under Grace's bound hands. The commander pulled out his knife again and neatly cut Grace free of the plastic ties. She promptly threw her arms around her father's waist, then pulled back when he grimaced in pain.

Chin tugged her arms up around her father's chest. "Hug higher, Grace," he said with a wink. "Your dad's a little sore around the waist."

Grace hugged her father again, first gingerly, then harder to match Danny's fierce embrace. The tears that Grace hid from Dean began to flow freely.

"I thought you were dead. I thought I'd never see you again," she sobbed.

Eyes glistening, Danny rubbed her back. "I was afraid for you, too."

Steve touched the girl's shoulder.

"Grace, what can you tell us about your kidnappers? How many are there?"

The girl gulped, wiped her red eyes and leaned against her father as she considered her reply.

"There are three men."

"Is this the boss?" Kono asked, showing Grace a cell phone picture of Dean.

Grace nodded. "He's the one who shot daddy. I hit him in the nose. He's got two black eyes," she said proudly.

"That's my girl," Danny praised. "He's got two men with him? The one who grabbed you and the one who drove the van?"

She nodded vigorously. "They're Hawaiians. I think they're brothers. They were nicer than The Boss." The Five-0 officers could hear the capital letters in Grace's designation. "Scaredy — the fat one — he gave me crayons and a book. And Grouchy — the skinny one — brought me a glass of milk when I asked. You won't have to shoot them, will you?" Grace knew to repay kindness with kindness.

"Not unless I have to," Steve promised solemnly. He touched her bruised cheek with a gentle finger. "Who did this, The Boss?"

Grace nodded. Danny's flashlight examination showed a dark bruise with a shallow cut on the cheekbone. "He hit you?" Danny asked, his voice tight with repressed fury.

"He was mean. But he didn't touch me again when I told him not to," she said fairly.

"Then maybe I'll let him live," Danny said, tweaking his daughter's nose as if he was joking, but his friends knew it was no joke.

"They kept Courtney and me locked in that room," Grace said. "They were in the room down below us most of the time. I could hear them through the window sometimes."

"How long has Courtney been with you?" Kono asked.

"Since dinnertime." Just before Five-0 arrived, Steve realized.

"I was a bad girl." Courtney spoke up for the first time in a small, contrite voice. "I was supposed to be in bed, but I sneaked outside to play." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I want my mommy."

Danny extended his arm to pull the 4-year-old next to Grace.

"Don't worry, honey. You're safe now. We'll get you to your mom soon."

"She'll be mad," the child predicted.

"Maybe," Danny agreed. "But she'll be awfully glad to see you."

"OK. Danny, you stay here with the girls," Steve said.

His partner didn't argue. That alone told Steve that his wounded friend was flagging.

"Chin, you and Kono are with me."

Danny propped himself against an empty air conditioner housing. "Chin, loan me your shotgun, will you?"

Chin nodded. Effort and emotion had left Danny looking a little shaky. The shotgun would give him more leeway. He spun the gun to offer Danny the stock.

"Take good care of Lady Pele and she'll take care of you."

"Lady Pele?" Danny asked, knowing Pele was the volcano goddess.

"Because she spits fire," Chin answered, as if it should have been obvious.

Steve switched his mic to the tactical frequency. "Aku, we've got two freed hostages on the roof with Danny. The three kidnappers are believed to be on the third floor."

"Roger. We've got movement in the room beneath the one where you just did your acrobatic act," the SWAT commander replied.

"OK, Kono, Chin and I are going down."

"Then we're coming up."

Steve saw a stealthy movement in the woods. The SWAT lookouts circled the building until they were out of sight of the occupied room, then they joined up with the rest of Aku's team and started for the front door.

"Now!" Steve said. The three Five-0 officers trotted for the door.

* * *

><p>The Five-0 sneakers were silent but the SWAT boots echoed in the stairwell. Abandoning subtlety, the officers used a battering ram to smash open the door on the second floor. Alarms wailed. Scaredy and Grouchy stuck their heads nervously out of the door of their makeshift hideout. They saw a firing squad worth of guns pointed at them. They backed into the room, hands up, surrendering vociferously.<p>

"Police! Nobody move!" Aku bellowed.

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Scaredy said, pressing his face against his shoulder as if not looking at the guns could protect him from them.

"We give up. Don't shoot!" his brother agreed backing clear to the window at the far side of the room.

The police officers invaded the room, poking heads and weapons into every corner, checking the doorless closet and the half-finished bathroom.

"Clear!" Aku reported.

Steve caught Grouchy by the collar and pulled him in, nose to nose. "Where's your boss?" the commander snarled.

The brothers both pointed up.

"He went to check the girls," Grouchy babbled.

"He wasn't on the stairwell. He must have been on the third floor," Kono said.

"Damn, we passed him!" Steve swore.

"All the noise will have warned him," Chin cautioned needlessly, shouting over the continuing alarms.

"I've got men on the back stairs," Aku said. "He can't get away."

"Now we've got to clear the third floor," Steve said heavily.

That could be dangerous. The man was known to be armed. He'd already shot a cop and he knew they were coming.

The officers heard the clank of metal against metal from the stair overhead. A floor above them, Dean looked over the railing with his automatic in one hand and a length of discarded PVC pipe in the other.

"Jasper Dean, the building is surrounded," Steve barked. "Drop your weapon!"

Dean gave a sneering grin. He had nowhere to go, no escape from the officers except a sheer drop off the side of the building. The only sensible choice was to surrender, but he didn't. He spun and ran, up the stairs, toward the roof of no escape.

Toward Danny and the children.

* * *

><p><em>Unexpected.<em>

* * *

><p><em>AN: One more chapter to go._


	8. Chapter 8

_It's almost Thanksgiving Day and I am thankful — among other things — for Hawaii Five-0, for fan fiction and for loyal readers who review my stories.  
>Thank you.<em>

**Unexpected**

**Chapter 8**

Steve spoke quickly into his microphone. "Danny. He's coming your way!"

If the wounded detective had been up to full speed, he could have ambushed Dean when he opened the door to the roof. As it was, he just had time to push Grace and Courtney into hiding in the empty air conditioner housing.

"Cover your heads. Stay down and don't look," Danny ordered.

Grace put her arm over the whimpering 4-year-old's head and followed her father's instructions.

Danny moved toward the door but it burst open before he could get there. Dean leaped out, spun and shoved the pipe through the door handles to keep it shut.

Danny leveled Chin's shotgun and barked, "Freeze!"

Dean saw the man he'd shot facing him and caught a glimpse of the girls hiding their faces. The kidnapper gave another nasty grin and tossed his gun aside. The men heard a thump at the door, then cursing as Steve and Chin tried to force the door open. The pipe rattled in the handles, but remained in place.

"Take the pipe out of the door!" Danny ordered.

"No."

"Take the pipe out of the door or I'll shoot," Danny threatened.

"Really, detective? Shoot an unarmed man and in front of your little girl, too." Dean gave a smirk almost as good as Steve's.

Danny smirked right back. (He'd learned from the best.) "Love the raccoon eyes. Did my little girl do that with her big bad fist?"

Dean snarled.

Danny gestured with the shotgun. "Move away from the door."

Dean took two steps to the side. Danny circled. He knew Dean was going to try to jump him when he took one hand off the shotgun to reach for the pipe, but he didn't have any choice. He reached. Dean swatted the gun barrel aside, but Danny was already bringing up the butt to smack solidly into the man's mouth. Teeth flew and blood spurted.

Cursing, Dean staggered back, but as he went, he pulled the shotgun out of Danny's weakened grasp.

The detective followed, fists driving, trying to finish Dean fast. Dean was a full foot taller than Danny and a trained boxer. Danny was a full decade younger and an experienced street brawler, but Danny was injured and running out of energy. The kidnapper staggered under the body blows, then returned a one-two combination with his big fists, planting them right in the spot where he'd shot the detective.

Despite the padding of his flak vest, the agony drove Danny back. He gave a pained cry as he felt something crack inside. Fire burned in his side and his vision started to go gray, but he thought of his daughter and summoned all his energy. He charged forward, planting his head in Dean's middle and driving both of them to the ground. Danny grappled with the suspect while Dean punched and kicked, always aiming at Danny's wounded side.

Grace looked up at her father's cry. When he and the kidnapper fell to the rooftop, she disobeyed the order he'd given her and obeyed the one Dean had ignored. She ran to the thumping and banging door and pulled the bar out.

Steve burst out of the door as Dean rolled to his feet and pulled back his foot to kick the fallen detective. With a roar of rage, Steve grabbed the foot and thrust Dean forward into the air, as if he was an acrobat. The kidnapper flipped clear over Danny and, unlike an acrobat, landed flat on his back with a crash that drove all the breath from his body.

Steve pounced on him, readying his fist to punch the kidnapper in the face, but the commander paused to admire the Williams' artwork — broken nose and two black eyes from Grace, missing teeth and split lip gushing blood from Danny.

"I was going to pay you back for that bruise on Grace's cheek, but she and Danny did such an artistic job on your face, I don't want to spoil it," the commander mocked. "You could model for a Halloween mask."

He flipped Dean roughly onto his belly and handcuffed the kidnapper. He turned the prisoner over to Aku and then hurried to Danny, who was trying to sit up with the help of Kono and Grace. Kono was already calling for the EMTs.

Chin picked up his fallen shotgun and wiped blood off the stock. Danny noticed.

"Ms. Pele packs a punch from both ends," he gasped, making Chin smile. As Steve knelt beside him, Danny panted, "I think it's back to the hospital."

Steve shook his head. "Riley's going to be pissed you ruined all his hard work."

Danny stroked his daughter's arm. "It was worth it, babe."

Chin had gone to reassure Courtney, who was still hiding her eyes. "Look, honey," he coaxed her. "Look, we've caught the bad man. He can't hurt you anymore."

Courtney saw the man with the scary face surrounded by even scarier men dressed in black SWAT gear and carrying enormous guns. "Bad man!" she spat at him.

Chin chuckled. "That's telling him, honey."

Danny rolled his head back on Kono's shoulder to look up at the tall prisoner. "Why, Dean? Why kidnap these girls. Stan and Mrs. Ryman voted in your favor. It was the other board members who forced you out."

Dean shrugged carelessly. "The others all have grown children. The little girls were easier to control."

* * *

><p><em>Unexpected.<em>

* * *

><p>Steve went with Danny to the hospital and Chin went with Aku to book Jasper Dean. They missed the reward for a job well done, Kono thought as she delivered Courtney to her worried parents.<p>

Amy Ryman was still shaking when she gripped Kono's hand in thanks. "We thought she was in bed. When we checked, the bed was empty, but we thought she'd just snuck out to play in the yard. She's done it before. We'd only just realized she was really missing. When the officer came to take our report, he said she was already found. It was a miracle!"

"Grace took good care of Courtney," Kono said of the girl who stood by her side, saying goodbye to the 4-year-old. Courtney pulled away from her father and hugged Grace enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Grace. Your parents must be very proud of you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Ryman," Grace said politely. She looked at Courtney sternly. "No more sneaking out of the house," Grace scolded.

The tot shook her curly head emphatically. "No sneaking," she agreed. "I'm sorry, mommy. I was a bad girl."

Mrs. Ryman picked up her daughter and hugged her. "You did a bad thing," she agreed. "But I love you anyway. Now you know why we have rules."

Courtney nodded again. "Because there might be bad mens. But you and daddy will protect me — and Grace's daddy and Uncle Steve and Officer Kono and Lieutenant Chin..."

"That's right, honey," Kono said, when it looked like Courtney might start listing each of the SWAT officers by name, too. "There are bad men in the world, but there are good people, too. Just be careful from now on. Now, come on, Grace, we have to get you to you mother."

"I want to see Danno," Grace complained, as she climbed into the car.

"He's getting checked by the doctors right now," Kono said. "I'll come and get you in the morning so you can see him. Right now, your mom needs to see you're all right. She's been worried."

"OK, but don't forget," Grace said, and using Kono's own argument against her, the girl added, "I need to see Danno's all right."

* * *

><p>You couldn't say the doctors rushed Danny into surgery.<p>

They took, Steve thought, an unreasonable amount of time for poking and prodding before they gave Danny anything for his pain and then it was just extra strength Tylenol, because they "didn't want to mask any of his symptoms." After a CT scan confirmed that the broken ribs had caused internal bleeding, the hospital scheduled surgery — in two hours. It was a slow leak that wasn't critical, the doctors judged, and the operating rooms were all in use.

Steve looked ready to tear his hair out. No, he looked ready to tear someone's head off, Danny thought. The detective tried to lie as still as possible, panting though the stabs of pain when he shifted even slightly.

"Think of it as a good thing," Danny told his partner.

"Good!"

"Mmm. It means the damage can't be too bad or they'd be in more of a hurry."

"How can you be so calm?" Steve shouted in a hoarse whisper, then, controlling himself, he tried a small joke. "You're not even on the good drugs, yet."

Danny chuckled, then winced and clutched his side. "Was there a part of 'it hurts when I laugh' that you didn't understand?" the detective complained. "Steve, Grace is OK. That's all that matters."

And that's why he could be calm, Steve realized. The normal Danny would be ranting about inconsiderate, snail-paced hospitals; but this was relieved Daddy Danny. Nothing could worry him because Grace was safe with her mother.

* * *

><p>It was dawn before they came to take Danny into surgery. Steve sat and fidgeted or paced like a caged cougar. Chin and Kono tried to soothe him with coffee and snacks, but the commander was too wound up. Dean was in custody. Grace was rescued. There was no case to distract him. All the past day's anxiety was focused on his injured friend.<p>

"You know," he said as he paced past his seated teammates. "It's taking longer to help Danny than it took us to find Grace."

Wisely, Chin and Kono didn't answer. After checking his watch and calculating the time difference, Chin called Vanstrum in California and gave him the good news and thanked him for his help.

"We couldn't have done it without you," Chin said sincerely.

Kono's phone rang just after seven.

"You don't have to come and pick me up, Aunt Kono. Mommy said she'll drop me off on the way to her doctor's appointment if someone's at the hospital to sit with me."

"We're all here, Grace," Kono reassured the girl. "Uncle Steve will be waiting for you at the main door."

Steve glowered at being volunteered. Kono was unfazed. "You can pace just as well downstairs as you can up here," she said tartly. "The change of scenery will do you good."

Chin nodded emphatic agreement. Steve realized he was making his friends crazy.

"Sorry, guys."

"Hey, we understand. But we can use a break," Chin replied with a twinkle in his eyes. "Go wait for Grace."

So Steve did his pacing near the entrance until Grace arrived; then he made an effort to control his nerves for her sake. She looked worried when he said Danny wasn't out of surgery yet, so he had to explain the delay.

"See, your dad wasn't hurt too bad at all, so they had to operate on more serious cases first. Now they're fixing a little tear inside your dad's side. It shouldn't take long now that they got started."

Reassuring Grace helped Steve deal with his own worries. As they came up the elevator, Grace was chatting happily about rescheduling the plans she and Danny had had for that weekend. When she left the elevator, her youthful ears caught the sound of her name in her father's voice. She pulled away from Steve and ran toward the recovery rooms, away from the waiting area.

Steve caught up with her when she stopped in horror by an open door. From inside the room, Steve heard his partner's voice coughing, cursing and crying out in pain as he called anxiously for his daughter. A surgery veteran, Steve understood instantly.

He caught Grace by the shoulders and spun her away. "Grace, go to Chin and Kono." He pointed down the hall where his friends had leaped to their feet when they saw Grace run away. "I'll take care of this," he promised. "Go!" he ordered in his commander's voice.

Grace ran, sobbing, more frightened than when she'd been kidnapped.

Steve barged into the room.

"Sir, you can't …" An orderly tried to stop him. The SEAL planted the heel of his hand in the man's diaphragm, knocking the wind out of him but not doing any permanent damage. (He was only doing his job, after all.)

Stone-faced, Steve pushed a protesting nurse gently but firmly out of the way and leaned over his struggling friend. "Danny! Danny!"

Confused, half-anesthetized blue eyes met his. "Grace!" Danny said again, then a coughing fit had him curling in on himself, swearing at the pain.

Steve caught him gently by the shoulders. "Danny, relax. Grace is fine."

"Kidnapped," Danny protested.

"No. We found her," Steve said firmly. "We rescued her. She's right outside with Chin and Kono listening to you swear like a drunken sailor."

"You're the sailor," the befuddled patient protested.

"Aha! I knew you knew I wasn't in the Army." That was too much for a man just coming out of strange, anesthetic nightmares. Steve cradled Danny's bewildered face with his hand. "Danny, lie still. I'll bring Grace in and you can see for yourself."

Danny coughed again, but not as hard, and nodded. He lay back, still confused but trusting his partner.

A nurse took the opportunity to capture Danny's arm to check his blood pressure. She shook her head. "It's awfully high. Perhaps you should wait a few minutes until we get it under control."

"He doesn't need medication to lower his blood pressure. He needs to see his daughter," Steve said firmly.

The Five-0 commander strode swiftly to where Grace was crying into Kono's shoulder.

Steve scooped her up. "Grace, it's OK."

"But they were hurting Daddy," she wailed.

"Now, you know sometimes doctors have to hurt you to help you," he chided. He spoke calmly to soothe Grace, though he was so furious himself at the whole medical profession that he'd willingly skewer them all with rusty hypodermics. "Like when they give you shots, so you won't get sick."

She nodded, listening intently.

"When they do an operation, they give you sleep gas," Steve explained. "When they're done, they need you to cough to get the sleep gas out of your lungs so you'll wake up."

"Oh," Kono said, understanding the problem now. "And right now it hurts Danny to cough."

"Right," Steve agreed. "So he was coughing and it hurt and he was confused because he was just waking up and he remembered you were kidnapped but he didn't remember we'd rescued you. So that's what all the noise was about."

"Poor Danno," Grace said, wiping the tears from her face. "Can we go see him?"

"I think we'd better," Steve agreed. "And no one better get in my way," he muttered to Chin.

The nurse was still monitoring Danny's blood pressure when Steve set Grace down just inside the door. The patient's eyes brightened. "Monkey!"

"Danno!" The girl ran to put her arms around her father in a gentle hug. Danny rested his cheek on her hair.

Steve raised his eyebrows at the nurse. She checked the pressure again, nodded and gave him thumbs up.

"Back to normal," she said.

* * *

><p><em>Just as Steve expected.<em>

**The End**


End file.
